Surprising Places

I generally expect new growth to come from the end of a plant’s stem but happily, this prayer plant is sprouting new growth from the base, giving the plant more fullness. It’s also a hopeful sign philosophically in that new growth in life and character can pop up in places you don’t expect. That encourages my heart.

Earlier, as many as eight or ten blue jays congregated on the deciduous tree (mulberry?) beyond the balcony! Amazing! I’m not used to seeing blue jays in flocks; I thought they were all males but I found a neat site:all-birds.com that says both male and female are “blue above with a crest, and a black necklace.” The site also has a place to click to hear the blue jay’s call (very cool), which mimics the hawk’s.

I could surely use some sunshine this gray day but I’ll have to look for it in the Lord’s presence instead of from the sun. Funny, as soon as I wrote that, the sun started showing itself. It is, after all, God’s servant.

Relieved

As Valentine’s Day approaches I’m again reminded of how glad I am to no longer be working in a flower shop! Do you wonder why flower prices are so much higher for Valentine’s Day? Here’s the primary answer, increased overhead. The growers spend many nights in the greenhouses to make sure their roses are perfect, that the electricity doesn’t go out and turn them into rosecicles or that no other business-killing disaster occurs. Such a huge volume of hothouse flowers additionally takes a greater amount of fuel to keep them warm.

Then comes the extra overtime hours paid to employees, though floral industry employees make very little—I started at $3.50 an hour! We would be on our feet all day and into the night for days. One shop always had a line of flower-buying men trailing out the door and into the parking lot. The shop owner always hired a deputy for traffic direction and set up a TV with ski videos to keep the guys occupied while they waited.

Yes, some of it is marketing hype but most florists are local small businesses (though they’re being overwhelmed by the more ordinary supermarket floral departments) and aren’t we always being urged to support such businesses? Valentine’s Day is one of the make-or-break days in the business.

Nevertheless, I’m over celebrating Valentine’s Day. I’ve concluded that it puts unfair pressure on men to spend more money on gifts when they already have Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries and possibly Mother’s Day to keep up with. A friend once remarked regarding Mother’s Day that she’d rather be treated right all year than get a corsage on Mother’s Day.

But if you still want to buy your lady some flowers for Valentine’s Day, the other women I worked with in flower shops and I always agreed that we would prefer a bouquet of mixed flowers over the routine red roses as more creative. But if your lady is a traditionalist you’d better stick with long stem red roses. See what I mean? It’s too demanding.

Slow & Steady

In looking through my indoor garden on this cold gray day to see what I might write about, I found nothing spectacular—tiny new leaves on the crotons and the Hawaiian Ti, the smallest beginnings of hibiscus blooms. Nothing but small, steady growth, which is of course, what gardens do—grow. And that’s good. Most plants are reaching for the sun and need turning to avoid leggy growth.

In fact, if my plants were experiencing rapid growth I’d be overrun. Slow and steady growth can be a very good thing.

A Better Place

In Orchids Simplified, by Henry Jaworski (I find lots of good information at my local library), I found that my phalaenopsis orchid needs more light in order to bloom (I suspected that) and that it benefits from being in an eastern window. The added suggestion that it needs a cool spot this time of year in order to begin blooming can be happily accommodated by moving it to the morning window! It should also get a bit more air circulation there. I like it when things coordinate so easily! Hopefully the strong morning sun won’t overwhelm it since the bottom half of the window is covered with fine black screening material (on the outside).

Oskar Update

Though the flowers are gone, Oskar the amaryllis is still growing strong. Its long, strappy leaves will store up plant food*—chlorophyll to make the bulb strong.

Part of the beauty of growing amaryllis bulbs is that they last for several years. Yesterday when looking back through my garden journal I saw that one year an amaryllis bulb I had had for awhile refused to bloom indoors so I set it and its pot outside as soon as it was warm; one day I was surprised with beautiful red flowers. Don’t give up too soon.

*As my botany instructor emphasized, chlorophyll, which comes from the sun is plant food, not fertilizer; fertilizer is for the soil.

Dreaming in the Sunshine

While sitting in the morning sunshine with my feet propped up I felt almost like I was at the beach—almost. “It’s good for what ails you.” So I began to dream of what this year’s garden could be like. I keep a garden journal in color pencil of my plans, of what worked—and what didn’t. This year’s “have” list is much longer than usual (it also filled a second page) since I was able to overwinter more plants this year. That will help.

This year hydrangea is at the top of my list since I so enjoyed a gift of some cut ones from my friend R’s garden. I favor the in-between red-violet ones. When we lived in a duplex in the older part of the city, I tended a hydrangea bush that grew in the mature landscape. I altered the soil in opposite ways on each side of the bush making one side blue and the other pink with purple in the middle. Our elderly landlady and her friends were scratching their heads, "How did she do that?."

I want to make the outdoor garden more of a place where we can spend time—a lot of time, outdoors. I think it’s important to physical, spiritual and mental health (barring the neighbors’ smoke breaks).

Only Temporary

The recent pruning of the avocado plant has proved to be traumatic since all the remaining leaves have withered and curled up. I feel about like that though I felt immediately better than I was after prayer at church yesterday.

However, at the very top of the plant--on either side of the cut, are two new branches emerging. As W. at church said yesterday this cold, and I would add, the trauma to the avocado plant, are temporary.

Breathing

Outdoor plants benefit from rain washing their leaves of dust and pollen; have you ever noticed how intensely green and clean the “world” looks after a rain? Indoor plants don’t have that benefit so gardeners have to fill in. Houseplants benefit from an occasional washing of their leaves with a warm, wet paper towel (or cloth) since they breathe through their leaves; they also benefit from the humidity. And, anything that’s cleaner is usually brighter as well—that means brighter color and that’s almost always good!

My smaller croton plant pictured here has spread out as it has dropped some leaves; new leaves are coming!

My breathing isn’t so good this week—probably a cold, but I don’t think that a wet paper towel will do it for me. I’m resting and praying for healing—quickly and completely.

Singing in the Sun

The natural area is atwitter this morning with crows, cardinals, blue jays and mockingbirds plus smaller unseen birds. A dog somewhere in the distance joined in as did a really big silver bird. They seem to like the warm sunny morning as much as I do.

Though too small to photograph, I found in the outdoor garden two Sweet William buds! The cherry trees in Washington D.C. are even beginning to blossom it’s so warm! No matter what the groundhogs “say”, spring is here now so I’ll enjoy it now, though winter could return at any time. Generally though, later when spring truly comes, cold weather doesn’t mean that it’s not spring since it’s normal for the temperatures to see-saw.

Starting Small

A mockingbird came to visit my outdoor garden this morning then joined a flock flying around the small trees in the natural area. I heard again the bird call that sounded like the screeching of a swing as it rides its bar; circumstantial evidence would attach the sound to the mockingbirds but I couldn’t be sure. Are any of you birders? What bird makes that sound?

The prayer plant baby has more leaves and one more has spots! Another has the slightest shadow of the spots to come.

The prayer plant gets its name from its habit of folding its leaves upward at night—like praying hands. I don’t mean to force this comparison but it came to mind naturally as I watered this morning; just as these baby prayer plant leaves will become larger and stronger, prayers to God can start small and as you pray more, they’ll likely get stronger and larger as you stay with it and get to know him. You can start where you are*.

*Simple heart-felt prayers such as, “Help me Jesus!” and “Thank you Jesus!” carry a lot of weight in heaven.